WARNING: very jumbled post. Now that I'm just writing without worrying I'm finding that I'm a very confusing blogger. So if you get lost in all of this, you can blame me :)

I think it's high time that I do some bragging on my students. I always call my Mom up and talk to her about all the students that I have and she's so patient with me on those phone conversations. Here I am going on and on about all these children she's never even met, yet somehow, she still listens and comments little interjections. I think that's what a Mom is supposed to do and I'm thinking that she loves the fact that I want to share things with her. At least that's what I hope she's thinking.
Either way, I'm proud of my students. Teaching piano gives me an immense amount of satisfaction and I often feel (like most bloggers out there) that if I don't let someone know it I can't really revel in it. I'm not a good secret keeper for my own thoughts. Not to say that I can't keep a secret, I just can't keep secrets about me! The more people who know exciting news the better, and I have exciting news about some of my students.
I was having a very difficult time encouraging two of my older students. These two are so talented and so capable of amazing things but they just don't apply themselves. The majority of my studio is younger, under 12, and they are pretty easy to encourage. It usually takes offering them a sticker for a completed piece or something larger for more work accomplished. I used to fall to candy to get them to participate well in a lesson. But things like stickers and candy just don't cut it with older students. Try telling a high schooler that you'll put a sticker on their book if they get their piece correct. Yeah, right. So I was stuck at an impass. I kept thinking, well, what did I do when I was younger? First off my parents were really on top of my practicing. I don't think I could have done it with out them. And secondly, I really wanted things like trophies and awards and I wanted to play well in competitions. I didn't fully grasp what I was capable of until years later but I still wanted to succeed. I have a hard time telling if these students understand what practicing means or if they just don't see the larger picture. Am I a bad teacher if I can't get them to understand? Tactics. What can I do to encourage someone to actually finish their theory homework before their next lesson. Obviously they don't understand why theory is so important, otherwise they would have finished it right? So what do you do?

With one student it was as easy as handing candy to a baby. Because that's what I did. I finally had to get tough and say "Look, you have to do your theory before you come to your lesson and you have to practice X amount before then too. You also have to write it all down for me on this cheesy checklist I printed off and if you don't then I'm going to eat all the candy I bought for you, in front of you". That's pretty much how it went down. I think on the next to last lesson I have with her I'll put the candy on the piano just to give her some extra motivation. And by candy I mean... far too much chocolate to give to a teenager. I told her that I would buy her as much candy as it took to get her to practice because her practicing means the world to me. It really does! So many students stop when they reach their teen years and it's very hard to get them to practice like they should. So if I can offer some Hershey's bars to someone and they get the results that I want, then yes, I will use that tactic.
The other student wasn't so easy. I said, what kind of candy do you like, I will buy you anything. She got all sweet and said, Oh you don't have to do that, don't worry about it. Blah blah blah. So I said, ok I'll buy you something else, something small to show you that I care if you practice or not. And she still was all humble and trying to be a sweet student (which she is) so then I had to revert to another tactic, and I really didn't want to go down that street. I pulled the Mom Card. You know what I'm talking about don't you. I asked her what would happen if she just "didn't have time" to do her homework for school? She said her Mom would find out and she would be in so much trouble. So I said (easy as pie) if you do not practice I will call your mother as soon as your lesson is over. That worked. I said, my offer still stands for your present so look at it this way. You practice, you get a present, you don't, your Mom gets mad. You chose.
Now the bragging part. I was highly skeptical that either of these pressures would work on either of these students. But, to my surprise and delight, they did. And for the past two weeks I have had two excellent pianists on my hands. I looked at one student and said "Can't you tell how much better you sound when you practice?". It's amazing to me to see how blind they are to it. I guess because they hear it every day as opposed to me hearing them once a week. I was thrilled when one student came in and her fingering was perfect, the last week it was a train wreck. I was like, you practiced, you wrote it down, and your fingering is perfect, that's exactly what I'm looking for!! The other student came in with her theory finished (even though she did it in class at school).
Another student has memorized his lesson pieces for me more times than not, without me asking. One student who came to me from another teacher who could not think of a way to motivate her any more, this past lesson she was so proud that she played two pieces for me from memory, more difficult pieces than what she was playing three months ago when she started with me. My day can be made perfect when a student comes to lessons like that. I am thrilled to see how excited they are, to see that they finally understand. That's what my job is all about.

I recently talked with another teacher. I was telling her how amazed I was with one of her students who was so well behaved and played quite well. That teacher told me that it took her two years to get there. She said that the student had behavior problems, would talk back, wouldn't practice, etc. I thought, two years, my goodness! It got me to thinking about students that I have had that long and I started wondering if I would have the patience to see a misbehaving student through to the end. This reminded me of one particular student. Not the talking back issue but the not practicing issue. Actually it reminded me of many of my students. I think with those students when I see them coming through and understanding or getting excited over a piece of music it's the most rewarding. I have several students who are recreational pianists, they do it for fun, they do it because it's enjoyable and something where they don't have to stress out about anything. They can forget about school, soccer, dance, or whatever else it is and just chill out :) One of these students the other day came into their lesson and I know that they don't practice much, so I don't expect a lot. But when they sat down and focused and played through something that they haven't really spent any time on, and played it perfectly, that was my moment. It was like a deep satisfaction in my middle, in my stomach, in my heart. I know I'm probably talking way too much and reading way too much into this but I wanted to get it out, just how proud I was. I've spent several years with this student and I saw them sight read something that just a week ago wasn't possible. That gave me so much hope :)

I also must say that I could be biased but the students I have now are a million times better than the students I first had when I began teaching. I don't know if that's just because I'm a different teacher than I was years ago, or if it's just that I have had a very lucky draw the past few years. Either way I'm thankful (quite nice for the Thanksgiving season) for all my students and I'm very thankful for their progress. There is nothing I love more about my job than seeing my students succeed and be happy in what they chose to do. I love watching them work hard and put in the effort and I love watching how surprised they are when they see how easy it all can be :)